I watched The Good Dinosaur only a few days after it opened, but I felt like letting my thoughts simmer for a few days. I enjoyed myself enough, and believe me when I say it is surprisingly gorgeous. Pixar often mentions and hints that they could go for more realism but they go for style instead. In this movie they brought the goods. The story didn't seem as mind-blowing, though. I've started noticing how often Pixar stories borrow the "buddy comedy" format, which goes back all the way to the first Toy Story movie. Woody/Marlin/Lightning/Carl/Joy/Arlo suffers a loss and must learn to trust Buzz/Dory/Mater and the town/Russel/Sadness/Spot to help him. And yet I was having a genuinely good time. I needed time to process why.
The premise worried me because it sounded like A Land Before Time with humans. Then seeing a Bronto(Apato?)saurus plowing a corn field made me wonder if it was Jim Henson's Dinosaurs. But no, the movie has its own identity and style. Spot is the only one with thumbs and technology is pretty limited to what quadrupeds could make. Dinosaur life is agrarian. As a buddy of mine said, they tricked us into watching a western.
That might be why I enjoyed it so much. The opening title came accompanied by a folk-inspired music theme, and that should have tipped me off. But the discovery and realization that the movie was connecting two different eras got me excited. I guess that's the similar appeal of Cowboys in space or Steampunk. Mixing time periods or cultures gives us a new vision of what could be, and new ways to tell stories. The Good Dinosaur doesn't laugh at the implausibility, it celebrates a beautiful possibility. To see Tyrannosaurs galloping across a prairie along with bison gives them a grace and majesty I hadn't really noticed before.
I also appreciated seeing the world through both Spot's and Arlo's eyes. Sometimes we hope Arlo finds his strength, and sometimes we hope Spot can figure out Arlo's needs. They earn the last embrace of the movie by the way they worked together to communicate and reach out to each other, even without words. There was a moment that reminded me of the scene WALL-E where he and EVE use a single word, "directive," to convey deep meaning. In the end, what I celebrate Pixar for the most is their way of communicating more with less. They even avoided the trap of stopping the story to deliver a Moral of the Story. Which is good because the moral isn't as simple as "Earn your stripes, boy." It's about honoring those who go before while becoming more than they were.
So I'd happily see The Good Dinosaur again. I'll drop my jaw at the scenery. I'll feel the tragedy, cheer for the rite of passage, and think of how to better connect with others. That's the way of most stories, and it reflects society in general. With information and communication more accessible, different cultures around the world now have to adjust to a new awareness of others. We can't dismiss whole groups of people as "wrong" or "strange" like we used to. So it's helpful to see those themes appear in art to remind us who we should be for others.
And no, you don't want to miss the opening cartoon this time. The Alvin and the Chipmunks trailer, yes, but not Sanjay's Super Team.
